This week’s contents:

• Celery
• Collards
• English Peas
• German Pink Tomatoes
• Purplette Onions
• Red Butterhead Lettuce
• Yellow Patty Pan Squash

Unlike the sugar snap peas from Week 8, English peas should be shelled before eating. The shells are edible just not particularly palatable. I usually throw all the empty shells into the freezer, to be cooked into vegetable stock at a later date. The peas themselves are eaten raw by the handful or sprinkled on toast with hummus or ricotta. Or barely cook them in a skillet of melted butter, fresh mint leaves, and salt, for a delicious buttery dish.

We’ve got 2/3 of a mirepoix here, with onions and celery. I will almost certainly end up freezing a lot of the celery in anticipation of vegetable stock (with the pea shells!) or hearty soups.

I usually chop up patty pan squash and treat it like zucchini. But you could embrace its form with this Stuffed Patty Pan Squash recipe, while using the collards in lieu of the kale.

The German Pink tomatoes are beefsteaks destined for tomato sandwiches. The one I had for dinner was using sesame sourdough from Manifest Bakery in Riverdale Park because that’s what I had on hand. If you’ve never tried the simple tomato sandwich, please do. If you’ve never tried Manifest bakery, please do. And ’tis the season for sharing this how to store tomatoes article.